Disclaimer: K.A owns the Animorphs and all related characters.

The Mary Sue Chronicles I: The Invasion

We can't tell you who we are, or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. So we don't trust anyone. Because if the Mary Sues find us... well, we just won't let them find us. The thing is, everyone is in real big trouble. Yeah, even you.

Chapter 1: Mary

My name is Mary. I can't tell you my last name, or even the rest of my first name. I wish I could, I really do. That would mean that the human race was safe, and there weren't people from another planet trying to kill me. But I can't, it's not, and there are.

There are things out there, powerful things, that wouldn't hesitate to destroy me if my true identity was revealed. In fact, they want our entire race exterminated, and the only people who can stop them are my friends and me.

You would think that this status would automatically grant me more freedom. But, annoyingly, I still have to do all of the normal, everyday things that other kids do to keep my cover. Sadly, that includes school.

BRIIIIIIING!

I walked quickly across the schoolyard, joining the mass of students pouring inside of the building. It was a typical high school hallway scene, with teenagers goofing off, huddled in small, giggling groups, or standing alone and staring wishfully at somebody.

I continued down the hallway to my locker and started stuffing my books inside.

"I didn't mean it that way!" A voice yelled, accompanied by the sound of pounding sneakers. "I'm sure she's beautiful no matter who looks at her!"

I twisted my head to look, and felt an instant connection with the boy running up the hallway. As in the two skulls colliding at a fairly dangerous speed type of connection.

We both crashed onto the floor, books and papers flying everywhere. The boy scrambled to his feet and started snatching papers out of the air.

"There you are, Marco!" A girl yelled from the end of the hallway. "I'll teach you to talk about Tanya like that!"

The boy, presumably Marco, yelped and took off again. I noticed an unfamiliar blue notebook on the floor.

"Wait, you forgot your notebook!" I called. He didn't seem to hear me.

Curiously, I turned the notebook around in my hands, searching for a name. Both covers were blank. How was I supposed to return it without a name? Annoyed, I opened it to reveal to first page.

Upon it, in rough, un-even handwriting, seven odd words stared back at me: The Earth Diary of Aximilli-Esgarrouth-Isthill.

- - -

This guy, I thought incredulously, must be some sort of writer prodigy.

It was wrong, I knew, to invade the privacy of the notebook. But it was like it held a strange attraction over me, making it impossible for me to put down. Terrible handwriting aside, it was one of the best stories I had ever read.

I spent every class reading it, hurrying to get it done before Marco hunted me down and furiously demanded his notebook back. It was about animal-morphing teenagers fighting an empire of mind controlling parasites, in the form of a diary. The supposed owner was Aximilli, an Andalite Aristh trying to adjust to life on earth in between life-and-death missions to the yeerk pool. And each mission was crazier than the last, yet it all still made sense. How did he come up with this stuff?

I didn't see Marco at all day, though maybe it was for lack of trying. In fact, he was the one who found me.

I was leaning against my locker as school was letting out, with my nose buried in the final pages of the notebook. Just as Aximilli was describing the wonderful flavor of carpet lint, Marco brushed past me with a mumbled apology. It was a few moments before I realized who it was.

"Hey, Marco!" I called reluctantly. He jumped and took off, probably mistaking me for somebody with less than friendly intentions.

"Wait!" I yelled, running after him. He was surprisingly fast, and I lost him around the corner. Suddenly, loud alarms erupted throughout the school.

Covering my ears, I looked down the hallway. Sure enough, the emergency exit door was open. But despite this overwhelming evidence something told me he hadn't gone that way.

I opened the door to the nearby janitor closet, and screamed. A mutant insect boy creature thing was sitting on a pile of clothes, becoming smaller and more bug like!

(Huh?) I heard Marco's shocked voice inside of my head. (Oh-)